1. Background—Field of the Invention
This invention relates to amusement devices, more specifically card or tile games in which contest elements are intended to interact with each other in a competitive and amusing contest of skill and/or chance, according to definite rules.
2. Background—Prior Art
Competitive play is one of mankind's favorite endeavors. A deck of playing-cards is almost certainly the most popular gaming tool of all time.
Playing-cards are unique in the subclass of card or game tiles. Unlike specific game pieces, the appeal of playing-cards is the wide variety of games that can be played simply by redefining the rules (playing a different game). A multi-dimensional system of relations between cards, and various subsets of cards, is essential to the versatility of a successful deck of playing-cards.
The success of a deck of playing-cards, as a gaming tool, is also due in no small way to its ergonomic physical attributes. Cards are portable and inexpensive. Opaque construction provides the security needed for competitive game play. The conventional rectangular shape facilitates shuffling the deck, a function that is essential in playing card games.
While many unique decks of playing-cards exist, the state of the art is overwhelmingly emblematic, employing symbolic marks on the card's playing face. The multiplicity of games that can be developed is based upon, and limited by, the relations of the various symbols.
The most popular deck of playing-cards is related as a simple matrix consisting of a hierarchical sequence with the addition of suit modifiers. The readily apparent relations promote game development. Indeed the vast majority of games are based upon collecting card subsets of similar rank, or similar suit, or in a hierarchical sequence. In Poker games, these subsets would be called: multiples of a kind, flushes and straights.
A2345678910JQK♥A♥8♥ A 3 4 5 9 ♦A♦10♦♥J♥
There are of course limits to the symbolic relations in this simple matrix. A deck of playing-cards having playing faces that are subdivided into geometric regions, or play-fields, would allow for geometric relations in a physical or non-symbolic manner. Thus, such a deck would provide the opportunity for new and unique games that are not possible with decks of emblematic playing-cards.
Cultural bias can be observed in many of the symbols employed in emblematic playing-cards. Corner indicia of the popular English playing-cards employ numeric symbols that are foreign to non-English speaking peoples. Symbols of the English Royalty and the superiority of King over Queen could be offensive to some and foreign to others. Similar cultural symbols can be observed in emblematic playing-cards around the world.
In today's highly communicative world, the cultural bias of conventional emblematic playing-cards limits the opportunity for cross-cultural play. By contrast, games that employ the more fundamental and universal concepts of geometric shapes and relations are trans-cultural and timeless. Geometric playing-cards provide the opportunity for truly global game play.
The vast majority of geometric game pieces have previously been developed for specific limited uses such as puzzles, path-forming games, edge matching games, or board games. However, examples of a well-developed system of non-emblematic geometric cards that are capable of functioning as a multi-dimensional playing card gaming tool are absent from the art.
Also absent from the art are cards that combine the basic physical attributes of conventional playing cards with a well-understood and versatile system of rectilinear geometric relations between the cards.
Geometric game pieces with indexing corner indicia (a miniature depiction which informs the user of all the card's relevant attributes) are absent from the prior art. Indexing indicia provide a method of viewing the properties of the cards while handheld in a compact, convenient, and secure manner necessary to facilitate popular types of handheld set collection games like Poker or Rummy. Previous geometric game pieces have not been designed to employ such conventional handheld methods of playing-card play, as evidenced by the lack of these indexing indicia. Further, examples of cards that employ rectilinear geometric relations and include suits and cross-suit relations that are used in many conventional set collection games, are also absent from the art.
While the physical characteristics of conventional playing-cards enable popular hand-held methods of game play, the well understood and versatile system of relations between the cards is the factor which actually allows an extremely varied array of games to be played. Some such potential might impliedly exist within the previously known geometric playing cards, but this potential is unrealized as the prior disclosures for such geometric cards do not adequately describe the use of geometric relations.